


7 o'clock, Thursday, and a Margarita

by Write_To_You



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU Where Julian Stays, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bartender!Caitlin, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Healing, Post-Season/Series 03, like the emotional kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Write_To_You/pseuds/Write_To_You
Summary: Julian comes and visits Caitlin at the bar every Thursday at 7 o’clock sharp. Slowly, they begin to recover what they lost after defeating Savitar.
Relationships: Julian Albert/Caitlin Snow
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	7 o'clock, Thursday, and a Margarita

**Author's Note:**

> Guyyyyyys. Guys. This was literally the story that made me want to become a bartender when I'm drinking age. IT'S ALL THANKS TO CAITLIN XD

_July 5th, 2017, Thursday, 7:00pm_

“One margarita, please. Extra lime.”

Caitlin, eyes wide with shock, turned around to find Julian Albert sitting at the barstool in front of her. “Julian?” she murmured, gripping the edge of the counter. “What are you doing here?”

“One margarita, please,” Julian repeated. “Extra lime.”

He turned his gaze up to meet hers, and Caitlin was surprised to find him giving her a polite, reserved smile, the same kind of smile that you would give someone serving you, someone you didn’t know. Someone you didn’t have a complicated romantic history with. 

Someone you hadn’t left in a graveyard after he had tried to save you. 

“Um, yeah, of course,” Caitlin muttered, relieved and a little confused that that was all the recognition he would give her.

She rubbed the glass with lime juice and then sprinkled salt in, before mixing together the tequila, Cointreau, ice, and more lime juice and putting it in the glass. Then, because he had asked, she squeezed two more slices of lime into the liquid and tucked a third over the glass’ rim.

Caitlin slid the drink to Julian, who grabbed it as it crossed the table and took a sip.

He didn’t speak another word. He didn’t even say goodbye; just left her payment and a large tip on the counter where he had been. 

Caitlin thought that was the last she would see of him. He had probably come to check up, make sure she wasn’t dead and was still healthy and taking care of herself, and bring himself some peace of mind. That was probably it.

She was wrong.

He came back.

_July 12th, 2017, Thursday, 7:00pm_

“One margarita, please. Extra lime.”

Caitlin looked up, startled. “You’re back.”

Julian just looked at her, and she quickly turned to prepare his drink.

He sat, sipping the greenish liquid, and she bit her lip, watching him. “How.... how have you been?”

“Good. Busy,” Julian responded shortly. It wasn’t rude. It was just impersonal. 

He didn’t ask how she was. 

_July 19th, 2017, Thursday, 7:00pm_

“Hello. One margarita, please. Extra lime.”

Caitlin smiled, sliding Julian his drink only a minute after he ordered. “I’m getting good at this one.”

He smiled back, an actual smile, and she felt like squealing and jumping up and down. “How long have you worked here?”

“About two months,” Caitlin said, leaning forward on the counter. “It’s not so bad, once you get used to it.”

He looked around, the muted colors of the bar matched with the occasional flashing, technicolor light. “Somehow I can’t believe that.”

Caitlin laughed softly, before another customer sat down. “Hey lady! I want a drink here and I want it pronto.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes over her shoulder at Julian and went to take care of him.

One customer led to another and by the time she got back to the bar, Julian was gone. There was a mostly finished margarita, condensation soaking into the dollar bills he tucked under the glass. 

Once again, he hadn’t said goodbye. But at least he had said hello.

_July 26th, 2017, Thursday, 7:00pm_

“One margarita, please-”

“Extra lime, I know,” Caitlin smiled, passing him the drink. It had been ready since 6:57. “Aren’t you getting sick of this stuff?”

Julian shrugged, taking a sip. “I happen to like the flavor of lime. And you make the best margarita around.”

Caitlin smiled, extremely pleased. “Well, thank you.” 

They stayed together, on opposite sides of the bar, in silence. 

“How have you been?” Julian said finally. His light blue eyes looked the color of the ocean on a cloudy day in the dim light of the bar. It was the first personal question he had asked her.

“I’ve been working a lot,” Caitlin shrugged. “Trying to keep my mind off... things.”

“Right.” He nodded, taking another sip. “Understandable. Where’s Killer Frost?”

There it was. The question she had been waiting for him to ask for a month now. 

She swallowed. “She’s gone.”

“You took the cure?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why didn’t you go back?”

Caitlin glanced up, squinting at him. “Why didn’t you?’

Julian looked up too, surprised. “How did you know I didn’t?”

Caitlin shrugged again. “I guessed. I just figured that Cisco would be with you if you were still working at STAR Labs. If he knew you were coming to see me, anyway.”

Julian finished his glass. Caitlin expected him to stand up and leave without anything more than the price of the drink, but instead he wiped his finger slowly around the rim of the cup, salt crystals sticking to his skin. “Yeah,” he sighed. “With Allen gone things have been weird. Iris is taking a lot of leadership and Wally and Cisco have been fighting crime. I didn’t fit in anymore.” He blinked, looking up at her. “I only fit in when you were there.”

“You offered the team so much, Julian,” Caitlin told him.

“So did you,” he countered. “And you’re hiding at this bar instead of behind a desk at STAR Labs. There’s no difference.”

He dug into his pocket and pulled out some bills, then left the bar.

_August 2nd, 2017, Thursday, 7:08_

“One margarita, please. Extra lime.”

“You’re late,” Caitlin accused, sliding him his pre-made glass. The ice had started to melt. 

“Hmph,” Julian huffed. “By eight minutes. Seven if you’re going by my watch.”

At least he admitted that he came at precisely seven every Thursday. Caitlin smiled. “Still late.”

“There was traffic,” Julian grumbled. “I even sped.”

Caitlin laughed, and Julian smiled up at her. It felt so normal to be at the bar with him, just two more-than-friends laughing together over a drink. 

She fixed a few more drinks for other patrons, half-expecting Julian to be gone by the time she returned to his part of the counter.

To her disappointment, he was gone, but she found a quickly written note mixed in with the bills underneath his glass. 

_Needed to head back to work for Singh. See you next Thursday._

_August 9th, 2017, Thursday, 7:00_

“Could I get an mojito, please?”

Caitlin stared at Julian in surprise, just managing to catch the margarita she had already prepared on her fingertips before it slid down the table to him. “You’re getting a different drink?”

“I was getting bored of that one,” Julian chuckled. “And I wanted to see your reaction.”

“I guess I’ll have to drink this now,” Caitlin grumbled, placing the margarita on the ledge under the counter. “One mojito, coming right up. Extra lime?”

He positively beamed at her. “Yes, please.”

Caitlin mixed the lime (more than usual, because it was Julian) and sugar in a glass, and then rubbed mint leaves against the side. Then she filled two thirds of it with cracked ice and poured in rum, club soda, and a couple lime shells. 

“You really like your lime,” she commented as she passed the glass to Julian.

He smiled broadly and took a sip, nodding his approval. “You’re pretty good at this drink making gig.”

Caitlin laughed. “I do my best,” she said modestly, before adding. “I’d like to think that I could get hired in most any bar in the city now.”

“You probably could,” Julian agreed. “I’d like if you stayed here, though. It was hard enough to find you.”

“How _did_ you find me?” Caitlin inquired, realizing she had never asked him that before. “I’m nearly positive it wasn’t by accident.”

Julian smirked and took another sip. “I told you,” he said. “You have the best margarita around.”

_August 16th, 2017, Thursday, 7:00_

“I’ll try a Negroni. Light on the orange, if you can. ” 

“Look at you, getting so original and trying new things.”

Thursdays were becoming Caitlin’s favorite day of the week. She loved watching the clock until she heard the bar door swing open, then seeing Julian’s blond, sophisticated, British head making it’s way through the dark, grimy, American bar. It made her smile every time.

“I’d like to expand my drinking repertoire,” Julian told her primly. “And considering I’ve been getting a drink every Thursday I might as well make it different.”

“No lime in this one,” Caitlin commented, turning to grab a chilled cocktail glass from the fridge. “I’m shocked.”

“I have a canker sore,” Julian huffed. “And excessive citrus is only going to aggravate it.”

Caitlin laughed outright, shaking some dry gin, Campari, and vermouth rosso with cracked ice before putting it in the cocktail glass and squeezing a tiny bit of orange into it. “Here you go. If you can’t taste the orange I apologize. I’ve only made this twice before and I don’t know how strong the orange is usually, much less when you want it light.”

Julian took a sip and smiled at her. “It taste great,” he assured her. 

They watched each other for awhile. “Would you...” Caitlin trailed off. “Would you consider going to get a drink we me sometime?”

Julian smiled at her. “Aren’t I doing that right now?” 

Caitlin laughed softly, shaking her head. “I meant one that I _don’t_ make,” she amended. “Or... you know, a coffee? Just sometime when we can really _talk_ , not in this stupid bar.”

Julian nodded and took a large sip of his drink. “I think that sounds great.”

_August 23rd, 2017, Thursday, 7:00_

Neatly penned and stacked resignation papers were placed on the owner of the building Caitlin had now been working at for three months. 

Then Caitlin herself grabbed her purse, took one last look at the bar she had spent so much time behind, and walked outside.

Julian was waiting.


End file.
